ISIS Opens New Camp in Deir ez-Zor to Recruit Youth

On Tuesday, the so-called “Islamic State group” (ISIL/ISIS) opened a new military training camp in the town of al-Sour in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor province, eastern Syria.

Activists in Deir ez-Zor reported that ISIS is trying to attract youngsters in Deir ez-Zor to join the newly opened camp, which is expected to provide qualitative training about tactical military operations as well as street fighting to its members and new recruits.

Taim Ali, a civil rights activist based in Deir ez-Zor, told ARA News that the group transferred dozens of its fighters to the battlefront in northern Syria and Iraq, after suffering heavy losses during battles against the Kurdish forces and while under airstrikes by the U.S.-led international coalition.

“ISIS pays salaries to the youth who recently enrolled in the camp in an attempt to attract more recruits to and encourage them to engage in battles,” Ali said.In the meantime, the ISIS-Syrian army battles continued for the second month in the vicinity of the military airport of Deir ez-Zor. The group has repeatedly tried to storm the airport and take it over, without achieving any remarkable advance.

“The military airport of Deir ez-Zor is still under the full control of the pro-government forces,” a local media activist said on the condition of anonymity.

In other developments, the ISIS group launched Tuesday a campaign of arrests among retired fighters from the what called “Free Syrian Army” in Deir ez-Zor, local sources reported, without specifying the numbers of arrestees.